A Chinese investment holding company has signed a letter of intent with six partners to acquire a number of oil fields in Texas for $1.3 billion through a seven-member limited liability partnership.

Yantai Xinchao Industry Co. Ltd. said the oil fields in west Texas’ Permian Basin would be bought from two Nevada-based companies, Tall City Exploration and Plymouth Petroleum.

The Permian Basin, one of the oldest oil fields in the U.S., has enjoyed a revival as shale gas exploration has increased and other drilling technology has advanced.

The transaction was recently filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange and approved by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS).

According to the Treasury Department, the CFIUS is “an inter-agency committee authorized to review transactions that could result in control of a U.S. business by a foreign person in order to determine the effect of such transactions on the national security of the United States.”

Complicated Chinese government regulations make investment in the country’s oil-and-natural gas exploration and production extremely difficult.

The acquisition is the latest in a trend by smaller, independent Chinese oil and gas companies looking for investment opportunities deals abroad, particularly in the U.S., as a way to counter tough domestic competition from giant state-owned energy firms in countries including Mozambique and Kazakhstan.